Union Budget 2017: AIIMS to be set up in Jharkhand and Gujarat

Indian Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, centre, holds a briefcase containing federal budget documents as he arrives to present the budget in Parliament house accompanied by junior finance ministers Santosh Gangwar, right, and Arjun Ram Meghwal, left, in New Delhi, India, Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2017. The budget is being keenly watched as it comes months after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a massive demonetization exercise that impacted all sections of India’s economy. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)

FM Jaitley said two new AIIMS are to be set up.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Wednesday announced two new All India Institutes of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Jharkhand and Gujarat as part of increasing healthcare in the country. “Two new All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) to be set up in Jharkhand and Gujarat,” he said while reading out his Union Budget speech for 2017-18 in Parliament.

“The action plan is to eliminate Kala Azar and Filariasis by 2017, Leprosy by 2018, Measles by 2020, and Tuberculosis by 2025,” the finance minister said.

aitley further said the government aims to bring down the Maternal Mortality Rate (MMR) from 167 in 2011-13 to 100 between 2018-2020. “The government has decided to start DNB (Diplomate National Board) courses in many of the hospitals across the country,” said Jaitley.

Earlier, the Jharkhand state government had suggested Deoghar as a possible site. However, the Centre had asked the state government to send a list of three-four sites from which one would be chosen by a team from the Centre. In response to the letter written by the state government on March 13, 2015, the Union health ministry replied saying: “A proposal for an establishment of an AIIMS in the state of Jharkhand was sent to Ministry of Finance. In response, the Ministry of Finance has supported the establishment of AIIMS in Jharkhand. Accordingly, this Ministry wishes to proceed with the setting up of AIIMS in Jharkhand for which location of new AIIMS is to be finalised on priority.”

In October 2016, there had been talks that it had been finalised that an AIIMS would be build in Rajkot in Gujarat.